Ah, San Diego is probably the only place in CA where I would want to live, so I don't really care about my opportunities in the rest of the state, but I do not have any connections to SD either I guess sticking with T14 is the best option at this point. Thanks everyone for the input!

UCLA is probably a national school. I'd be skeptical of ruling it out but considering a Cornell, Duke, or Northwestern.

Ya, I would definately take UCLA over any non top 10 school. Mainly because I want to end up in the west.

I want to work in San Diego when I graduate and had a lot of trouble deciding between Penn and UCLA for that reason. I ended up at Penn (obviously) and am completely happy here and also, from talking to 2Ls, 3Ls and firms, I am happy with my job prospects in the area, since I have at least some connection to the west coast. I hope it all works out, especially since there are only a handfull of firms in SD that pay 125k+ starting.

Oh, and I also recently spoke to a girl who's a 2L at Michigan now, and one of the offers she got was from a firm in San Diego (she has no ties to it at all). She is in the top 50% of her class at Michigan, and the offer was really good -- $135K or something close, so there is hope

Halfie--I kinda hated LA when I went there (and so did my husband), so I would actually rather stay on the East coast than go to LA The only other school I wouldn't mind in CA is Berkeley, but I am not really counting on that happening We'll see, I guess.

Yeah, I was talking to a guy with no connection to San Diego who got an offer there too. Of course, he is ridiculously smart and wound up choosing between Wachtell and Cravath, but it was still nice to know he got a SD offer with no connection.

make sure, b4 you apply, to send a note annonomoulsy to all the firms and reference the info below...\

Report: Companies must do more to keep employees fulfilled

06:47 AM CDT on Monday, October 16, 2006

By BOB MOOS / The Dallas Morning News

Employers need to improve their recruiting and retention practices if they're to weather the worker shortage that economists expect over the next 10 years as the baby boomers start to retire, says a study being released today by the American Business Collaboration.

"Compensation remains the No. 1 factor in getting employees through your front door, but salary won't make them stay. Companies must do more to keep workers satisfied and fulfilled," said ABC's director, Debbie Phillips.

The report's recommendations include more mentoring, more flexible work arrangements and more communication with employees.

Still, the study's findings may not be as significant as the source. ABC, a consortium of seven of the nation's major companies, advises corporate America on how to manage employees who are more footloose than earlier generations of workers.

ABC was created in 1992 and has been at the forefront of helping employees balance their work and personal responsibilities. The organization's earlier reports have led to the creation of employer-based child care and elder care programs.

Texas Instruments Inc. of Dallas and Exxon Mobil Corp. of Irving are members of the group.

The latest study, based on an online survey of 2,775 people, found that America's workforce is swirling with change.

•A third of employees in their 30s and a quarter of workers in their 40s expect to switch employers within three years.

•Salaried employees expect to work for an average of five employers over their careers; hourly employees plan to work for six.

The study, done by Harris Interactive, said a lack of career development is a major reason for job dissatisfaction among workers in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Employees want more coaching from their employers.

The report also found that men are more concerned than women about achieving a better balance between their jobs and home life. Thirty-one percent of salaried men said their work and family lives are out of balance, compared with 18 percent of women.

"That's interesting, since work-life balance has been viewed as mostly a women's issue," Ms. Phillips said.

Betty Purkey, TI's manager of work-life strategies, said she's not surprised that the issue cuts across the genders.

"It's a men's issue, too," she said, noting that three of every four TI employees are men. "Women have just been more vocal about the need to balance their jobs and family responsibilities, though men are beginning to speak up."

The study also asked 200 people planning to return to the workforce about what they'll look for in their next jobs. A third of the men and a quarter of the women said they expect to pass up corporate America and start their own businesses.

"People want more control over how they work," Ms. Phillips said. "They've decided that if they can't find it in the corporate world, they'll create it for themselves. Companies that can't accommodate such people will lose out on their talent."

The study recommends that companies allow more flexible scheduling to hold on to "entrepreneurial employees."

Ms. Purkey said the ABC report is a good reminder that employees have different expectations and priorities at different stages of their lives, and that companies need to design their policies and practices to suit each age group.

"We have four generations working at TI," she said. "We pay attention to all of them."

i am a 1L at usd and i would say the any job opportunities in sd come down to class rank no matter what your school. the market here is extremly tight and there arent many jobs to go around. so unless you go to a t14, the school you go to doesnt really matter. so aim for the top 10%. but as you will quickly find out the first minute of law school, everyone believes they will be i the top 10%, which of course basic math and the law of averages tells us is impossible.

University of San Diego (especially since I live right next door to it)...LOL

There is a lot of mentorship going on for current students. The only thing is that the school is very expensive and most scholarships only last for the first year of law school. They do have a part-time evening program. My interaction with the USD law school staff when I was applying was not so positive. They seemed to be "bothered" by anybody making an inquiry. The law library staff is really nice and the professors that I met were friendly as well.

University of San Diego (especially since I live right next door to it)...LOL

There is a lot of mentorship going on for current students. The only thing is that the school is very expensive and most scholarships only last for the first year of law school. They do have a part-time evening program. My interaction with the USD law school staff when I was applying was not so positive. They seemed to be "bothered" by anybody making an inquiry. The law library staff is really nice and the professors that I met were friendly as well.

So, USD is your best bet for BIG LAW, in my opinion.

Vera

You think USD is a better bet for San Diego biglaw than Harvard? Stanford? UCLA, even? It would be nice if some of your reasoning could be geared towards explaining why that might be the case, rather than noting merely that the people are nice there (which is a positive, to be sure, but it doesn't in any way speak to the conclusion that "So, USD is your best bet for BIG LAW, in my opinion"). (The word so sets that out as a conclusion, rather than just an unrelated assertion.)

University of San Diego (especially since I live right next door to it)...LOL

There is a lot of mentorship going on for current students. The only thing is that the school is very expensive and most scholarships only last for the first year of law school. They do have a part-time evening program. My interaction with the USD law school staff when I was applying was not so positive. They seemed to be "bothered" by anybody making an inquiry. The law library staff is really nice and the professors that I met were friendly as well.

So, USD is your best bet for BIG LAW, in my opinion.

Vera

You think USD is a better bet for San Diego biglaw than Harvard? Stanford? UCLA, even? It would be nice if some of your reasoning could be geared towards explaining why that might be the case, rather than noting merely that the people are nice there (which is a positive, to be sure, but it doesn't in any way speak to the conclusion that "So, USD is your best bet for BIG LAW, in my opinion"). (The word so sets that out as a conclusion, rather than just an unrelated assertion.)

University of San Diego (especially since I live right next door to it)...LOL

There is a lot of mentorship going on for current students. The only thing is that the school is very expensive and most scholarships only last for the first year of law school. They do have a part-time evening program. My interaction with the USD law school staff when I was applying was not so positive. They seemed to be "bothered" by anybody making an inquiry. The law library staff is really nice and the professors that I met were friendly as well.

So, USD is your best bet for BIG LAW, in my opinion.

Vera

Yes, USD > anywhere for Biglaw, because they have "mentorship." This is fantastic advice.